– Two women are visiting us from Occupy Wallstreet. They are The Crow and The Wolf. They brought a “Lady Liberty” puppet from the Puppetry Guild of OWS as a show of solidarity with OGSO. They also read aloud a short note from OWS thanking Greensboro for the solidarity video made several weeks ago.
– Trish is going to collect oral histories. Each will take one to two hours to record. Contact her if you are interested. trish.kahle@gmail.com
– Trish would also like to have a system for reporting interactions with police.
– Fundraising & Finances Working Group is meeting at 3:30 Thursday at Glenwood. Contact Terl for more information. terlpaul@yahoo.com
– Foreclosure Working Group meets at 8:30 a.m. on Thursdays at Spring Garden Bakery. Contact Todd Warren for more information. toddafwarren@gmail.com
– Duke Energy Working Group is meeting from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday the 28th) at Glenwood. Contact Val Warren for more information. warren.valerie@gmail.com
– Art Fest Working Group is meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Friday at Glenwood. Contact Mo Kessler for more information. mokessler@yahoo.com
– Left Forum is meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday at Glenwood. Contact Michael Roberto for more information
– Collective Playwriting is meeting at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Location unknown. Contact Amanda for more information. ajhuber89@gmail.com
– Walkuppy participants will be arriving at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow and staying at Cynthia’s home. There will be a potluck at Glenwood C&B after they arrive and also on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Contact Cynthia Case for information, to donate food, or to volunteer to drive participants around.
– On Thursday, Walkuppy will be having a ThinkTank on Horizontal Leadership, Nonviolence, and Communication at 12:30 p.m. There will also be a walk from a park on A&T campus to the Civil Rights Museum beginning at 2:00 on Thursday. There will be a press conference at the end of the walk.
– Employment Meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Friday
– Healthcare Group will meet at 6:30 on Friday
– Daniel will speak about the Latin Kings on Tuesday’s GA, January the 3rd

Proposals:

Mo made a proposal to join Winston Salem’s direct action in front of the town hall on January the 3rd.

Proposals that passed with consensus:

Mo’s proposal passed. We will be joining Winston Salem’s action on January the 3rd.

Note taker:

Bobbie Sonner
bobbie.sonner@gmail.com
(336) 944-5483

Notes:

Reflections (last 15 minutes of the meeting):

Pros tonight:
– Facilitators had a great time.
– Other people also enjoyed themselves.
– Our visitors from OWS say this is the most respectful GA they have been to.
– These meetings build trust so that people feel safe to speak openly.
– Breaks are great.
– Yay for the potluck.
– Appreciation.
– Co-facilitation collaboration.

Needs improvement:
– Keeping on stack.
– Michael: GA facebook discussion was “ragged.”
– We forgot to do working group reps.
– More clarification about particular handsignals
– We did not pass the hat!

Gentle Reminders:
– Patience.
– Democracy is messy and it takes a long time to hear everyone’s thoughts.

Discussion:

Topics of discussion: Facebook, Nonviolence, & Occupy Congress

Facebook: concern was expressed about a perceived disconnect between interactions on the www and face-to-face interactions. Facebook can feel like a safe place for people and we can’t force people to come to general assemblies. However, participants feel that we need to decide if our current facebook page promotes discussion about information sharing or if we need to create an alternative space for that. There was also discussion about the use of OGSO’s website. Participants also spoke about the lack of GA ground rules being implemented on facebook, particularly step-up, step-up and the use of oppressive language.

Nonviolence: Val would like us to have a Nonviolence Miniseries around 6 months from now in order to learn about:
1. The history and definition of nonviolence and nonviolent movements
2. Critical thinking and evaluation of use by OGSO, the larger Occupy movement, and other movements
3. Brainstorming for possible outcomes of actions and creating ideas
People at the meeting appeared to like nonviolence. The Miniseries would take several months to plan in order to build substance. Our visitors from OWS (The Crow and The Wolf) would like to share their own training in nonviolence. Contact Val for more information. warren.valerie@gmail.com

Occupy Congress: Tina and Terl are interested in a bus leaving Greensboro early in the morning on January the 17th and returning late at night. Ideally, participants from Occupies in every state will go to DC on that date and bring “tents of all forms.” This would be a day trip marking the 4 month anniversary of OWS and the start of congress. There was also discussion about delivering handwritten letters to the 3 state representatives and 2 senators who live here in Greensboro.

Forum Topics

Let’s Lose Our House: A Modern Foreclosure Tale

"Let's Lose Our House" is a smart and funny look at the often misunderstood roots of the housing crash. It premiered on March 14, 2012 at the Carolina Theatre and was featured on the Rachel Maddow Show. If you are interested in hosting a screening of it in your area, contact OGSO's Foreclosure Working group here.